Law schools and slavery in Brazil (1827-1888): Natural Law and Political Economy in the legitimation of the `servil element´

• Grant number: 19/04345-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2019
• End date: February 28, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law
• Principal Investigator: José Reinaldo de Lima Lopes
• Grantee: Ariel Engel Pesso
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Direito (FD). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 21/12518-0 - The Faculties of Law and Slavery in Brazil (1827-1888): natural law and political economy in the theoretical basis of the "servile element", BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This research project deals with Law Schools and slavery in the nineteenth century and seeks to answer the following question: "did legal teaching serve as a legitimizing tool for slavery?". Our hypothesis is that the teaching practiced within the Academies of Law reinforced and justified the slave regime (the "servile element", as it was called at the time), through the use of philosophical, legal and economic arguments that supported the maintenance this way of working. The period analyzed corresponds to the creation of legal courses in 1827 until the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888. The disciplines selected for analysis are the "Natural Law" and the "Political Economy", since the former "opened" the course in the 1st year, the latter closed it in the fifth year. Due to the propaedeutic character of these disciplines, there was a thematic proximity with slavery, attributing to it arguments of a philosophical and moral as well as economic order. Through the historical method, inscribed in the history of ideas, it is intended to make an intellectual history that combines at the same time an institutional history and a history of legal thought. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

PESSO, Ariel Engel. Law Schools and Slavery in Brazil (1827-1888): Natural Law and Political Economy in the theoretical foundation of the \servile element\. 2023. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Direito (FD/SBD) São Paulo.